puellacaerulea

On Darkness 2009: In the bottle, I get mostly incense and resins; I can't really pick out any florals. Once it's on and had some time to dry down, though, the lavender and rose geranium come out and balance out what would otherwise be nothing but thick, nearly cloying incense. The balance of the floral and incense notes make for a really lovely scent; for some reason it just seems very Victorian to me. I can't imagine wearing something this thick, heavy, and dark in the warmer months, but I think I'll be coming back to this one quite a bit this winter.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the combination of citrus and floral notes with wood, amber, and leather, but oh man I love Manhattan so hard. It's very lemony in the imp and right after applying, but it's not a sweet or overly sharp lemon. There's a slight soapiness behind it that makes me think "day spa." I don't really get any of the leather notes until it's dried down, where it adds a sort of dark undertone to the otherwise fresh and citrusy notes. Very sophisticated, and I love it. The only downside is that it fades incredibly fast on me (after about two hours all I can smell are faint leather notes), which means I'm making my way through my imp rather quickly. Not that it'll stop me from a bottle purchase the second it runs out.

I just recently unearthed and retested the frimp of this that I got with my Bards of Ireland order. Aged Leipreachan is lovely, outdoorsy, sunny goodness in a bottle. I'm not getting the metallic note a lot of reviewers have mentioned; in the imp it's all soft greens (think grass and moss) with maybe a bit of patchouli and some light floral hiding in the background. Once applied, my skin really starts amping the leather note others have noticed. It's a warm, soft leather, with just a faint hint of powder, that really complements the green notes. As it dries down, I mostly get the leather while the green notes take a back seat (although they haven't gone away entirely). I'd call it more unisex than masculine, as there's a softness to the leather note, along with the slight floral presence, that keeps it from going full-on masculine to me. I'll definitely be reaching for this imp more often now that I've rediscovered it (and would totally buy a 5ml if it ever becomes available).

I'm really disappointed Psyche is discontinued -- I've had an imp for quite some time, but never got around to buying a 5ml (time to stalk the swaps). It's a light, slightly spicy floral -- I get mostly lavender with a vaguely spicy undertone (the frankincense?) upon first applying, but the rose and musk amp up a bit as it dries down. I'm generally don't do florals, but the frankincense and musk give Psyche just enough depth to be wearable. It does go a little powdery on me after a few hours, but by then the scent has mostly faded anyway. Overall, one of my preferred BPAL florals, and I'll be on the lookout for any imps/5mls looking for a new home.

This is probably the first straight-up masculine (as opposed to unisex) imp I've gotten. It's definitely a classic men's-cologne type of scent, very clean (but not at all overpowering) with mostly the musk and lavender standing out, but it's better than any men's cologne I've ever smelled. Not something I could wear, but I keep the imp around just for random sniffing. If someone secretly replaced every bottle of Axe out there with Villain, the world would be a better place.

I picked this up during its original run after seeing the apricot note in the description; being a Katharina lover, I am all for any scent involving apricot. Copper Phoenix is definitely *not* the same sort of apricot, though. No one note really stands out except for the citrus/fruitiness, at least at first. In the bottle, it is serious, in-your-face, Sunny Delight citrus. The fruity notes mellow out fast once it's on, with a smooth, definitely metallic undertone. Metallic notes and fruit shouldn't go together, but they very much do here. Overall, it's like a grown-up fruity perfume, and it's my new go-to scent for warm weather.

This starts off as a fresh, slightly green/herbal floral, but quickly goes powdery on me -- possibly my skin amping the sandalwood? In any case, after about an hour, this is all baby powder and little florals. Could be a good candidate for a scent locket. Provided your skin doesn't also make this scent go all baby powder on you, it would make a great, light summer floral.

I got a frimp of this with my recent clocket purchase, and I'm glad, as the tobacco/leather would have kept me from trying this on my own. It's much, much sweeter than the description suggested to me (the tonka and chardonnay notes, I'm guessing) -- almost too sweet when I first put it on. The tobacco and leather amp up on me pretty fast, though, without overwhelming the sweeter notes. Very mature and sexy without being in-your-face about it -- this is definitely going to be a bottle order for me.

Got an imp of this with my last order to see if it would live up to all the hype. And it *does.* I thought everyone who kept saying O smelled like sex was exaggerating. I keep getting whiffs of it and thinking "wow, I'd totally have sex with me." In the imp, it's pretty much all honey (not cloying at all, though), and stays mostly honey on my skin for about a half hour. Then my skin starts amping the amber, and it turns into this amazing, soft, sweet-but-not-foody smell. The vanilla is still vaguely there, but it's mostly amber with a bit of honey. It has surprisingly good throw (the boyfriend was like "damn you smell good" from maybe three feet away), and seems to last roughly four hours on me. While this probably isn't the sort of thing one should wear at work or anything especially casual, I feel like O is definitely in signature scent territory after a couple days of wearing it. I need a 5ml right now.

In the imp: musk musk musk. Headache-inducing, almost-a-dealbreaker red musk. Once I put it on, though, the rose started amping up immediately and toned down the musk notes. It's a fresh-smelling rose, too, as opposed to "old lady perfume", and complemented the musk/amber notes nicely. After about four hours, I noticed the rose starting to recede, ending with a surprisingly soft red musk/amber scent. Six hours in, the scent seemed to have faded entirely. For something that smells so strong in the imp, Spellbound doesn't seem to have too much throw. Still, I would avoid wearing this at work or any other places I might expect to find perfume-sensitive people. Overall, Spellbound's not bad, but I'll keep the imp around for appropriate occasions rather than spring for a 5ml.

In the imp, I get this amazing combination of smoky/spicy notes (the opium and sandalwood?) behind a strong but sweet citrus note. It's an unexpected combination, but they go wonderfully together. I don't get much vanilla in the imp, on the other hand. It does have a vaguely "old" feel to it, but it's far from grandma's perfume. On drydown, the mandarin starts to go away quickly, much to my disappointment. What I finally end up with are just the smoky and spicy notes (the vanilla also comes out to play a bit at this point). I was surprised by this, as citrus notes usually love my skin. This isn't necessarily a bad thing -- the sandalwood/opium/vanilla notes are great on their own -- but to me the mandarin really takes the scent out of Shalimar-esque territory. A bottle is probably in my future, especially since it'll be that much more motivation for me to buy a scent locket.

In the bottle, this is mostly aquatic notes and florals with a little bit of citrus -- fresher and cleaner than stereotypical florals. It actually reminds me a *lot* of a perfume oil Urban Decay used to make that I was completely in love with, though I remember that perfume being a little heavier on the citrus and aquatic notes. In any case, the similarity had me excited. Unfortunately, June Gloom gets a bit powdery on me as it dries down, and the floral notes ramp up quite a bit. It's not a dealbreaker, but I definitely prefer how it smells in the bottle (maybe this'll help me justify getting a scent locket). Still hasn't stopped me from using it as my go-to scent for most of the summer. I'd say this is perfect for anyone who wants to try something citrusy without having to smell like lemon Pledge.

Katharina is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin (in the imp?). It's very sharp and strong (as opposed to sweet) apricot and light musk, with a little bit of orange blossom as an afterthought. On me, the musk amps up fast, though it basically softens and balances out the apricot instead of overpowering it. What I get is basically a grown-up version of a fruity perfume. It has pretty good staying power, with maybe about 6 hours before I need to reapply. This is one of my favorite BPAL scents so far and has become one of my go-to scents in general. I'd recommend it to anyone, including those who are otherwise leery of fruit scents, and I'm definitely getting a bottle once my imp runs out.

Got Ophelia as a frimp with my last order. Many reviews mentioned Ophelia being all rose, all the time, so I was optimistic, as BPAL's roses work on me like whoa. However, I opened the imp, and on first sniff: holy cough syrup, Batman! I'm not sure which note it is that's reminding me of cough syrup (very medicinal, sickly-sweet smell), but I have a hard time thinking it's the rose. Could it be the lotus? I tried it on anyway, hoping the sickly sweetness would fade and the rose would amp up, as it usually does on me. Unfortunately, this ended up not being the case; the (maybe) lotus note just got stronger on drydown. Some of the rose and aquatic notes started to come out, but the cough-syrupy note was still the dominant one by far. For what it's worth, it *did* draw compliments from bystanders in the car with me (suggesting that Ophelia does have good throw, as I only put a tiny dab on my wrists). However, the vaguely medicinal sweetness of the whole thing just doesn't do it for me. Overall, it was worth a shot, but Ophelia and I just don't get along. If you do like very sweet florals, though, you might want to consider it. The compliments I got suggest my reaction to Ophelia is more an issue of personal preference than Ophelia actually smelling unpleasant. Still, I'll probably be swapping this one.

In the imp, Zombi is *very* earthy -- I almost can't make out the rose for all the earth and moss notes. The moss is almost overwhelming; almost a moldy sort of smell (as you might expect from the name). Just after putting it on, the rose notes start to get stronger. As other reviewers have mentioned, it's not a flower-shop sort of rose, but more like dried or crushed rose petals. The earth and moss are still the strongest notes, but the moss is no longer overwhelming to the point where I'm reminded of mold. As it dries, the rose notes keep getting stronger while the moss notes die down. The end result on me is basically a very earthy rose scent -- something that evokes roses in a garden after a heavy rain instead of a florist's. The moss note is there, but is much more subtle and works well with the damp earth notes. It also lasts quite long, almost eight hours on me. After about six hours I had to get fairly up close and personal with my wrists to smell it, but it was definitely there. Overall, I'm not sure yet if I'd buy a full size of this, but it's something I'd wear again. I'd recommend this to anyone who likes BPAL's rose scents, especially if you're looking to try something darker than the usual floral. For comparison's sake, a non-BPAL scent this reminds me of is Demeter's Wet Garden, but without all the additional floral notes.